Failsafe 2
by Kitskune Miyake
Summary: The probationary team undergoes the Failsafe simulation. Some shine, while others fall short. Will this affect their status as Team members? Set somewhere between YJ and YJ:I. Rated for brief language


So, this is for the headcanon contest on Tumblr. This is the one I chose: _304. The Failsafe simulation is still used to test prospective Team members. After a 3-month trial going on missions, they undergo the simulation, which is controlled by M'gann. Like the original mission, they do not know they are doomed to fail, and that the purpose of it is to see how they cope if the League and original team died and everything went wrong. La'gaan actually coped best and excelled in the simulation, whereas Barbara was so shaken by Dick's death she nearly failed. _I actually submitted this headcanon.

The fic is more like "Disordered," in that I dealt with the fallout of the sim rather than the actual events within the Failsafe sim.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the show. Heck, I barely own the premise.

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Conner stood in a corner, watching the motionless bodies. Dick paced around the cave, anxious to know what was going on within the simulation. Mal was watching the vitals for each person, the beeps and hums eerily echoing through the cavernous room. Occasionally, they glanced at M'gann, who stood stiffly at the center of the gurney arrangement. Her arms were extended, and her eyes glowed, a sign her immersion in the virtual reality.

"Did it seriously take this long when we did this?" Dick called to Batman. The Bat narrowed his eyes in response.

"It did, actually, if not longer. The Failsafe simulation isn't in real-time, but it isn't that much faster than our reality. Look, if waiting around is too much for you, you are free to leave whenever—"

"No! I mean, I'm fine." He looked away from the probies, pacing even more. He glanced over at the motionless bodies. It was unnerving, like they were dead. God, he really wanted to know what was going on…

When they started recruiting new team members, there was a heated debate about whether or not to put the probationary members through the Failsafe simulation. Their mentors were split on the issue. Some of them thought it was cruel and possibly threatening to their mental state; others argued that failure brings out traits that they otherwise would never know about. Surprisingly, none of the senior team protested its use. All of them felt like they had learned the most about themselves when pushed to the limit, and a mental sim was safer than a real-life mission.

It was a really close vote, but they started the doing Failsafe sims. Batman decided that they had been on probationary trial long enough, and that this mission would show whether they were capable of being team members. M'gann would set up the sim and run it until every last one of them died. More or less, they used the same conditions as the original team's Failsafe. The week before, Dick and M'gann drew up probable scenarios that she would have to gear against them. It felt sick, like he was the Grim Reaper engineering their inevitable deaths…

Cassie jolted awake. She let out an anguish cry, sitting up painfully fast. She grabbed at her chest, clutching where here heart was. Dick rushed to her side. "Cass, are you alright?" The screaming had ended, but she was trembling violently. Dick gently turned her chin so he could look at her. Her eyes were slightly dilated, and she was on the verge of tears.

"N-Night—" She couldn't finish her words. She threw her arms around him and clung to him, eerily silent.

"Shh, Cassie, you're okay. It's okay." She didn't speak or sob, instead taking in his presence.

"I-I thought I...and you, and Conner, and everyone…"

"Cass, it's okay. Just come with me. You need to talk to Black Canary about what happened."

"What was that, Nightwing?" she whispered, barely audible. She slid her legs off the gurney and shakily got to her feet. Dick held her steady, and she clasped onto him.

"We'll explain this later. Conner, can you take her to—"

"Sure." He slid her arm over his massive shoulder and half-dragged her to the waterfall room.

It was as if Cassie was the trip wire. The kids started jerking awake. Karen and Jaime, then Garfield, then Tim. Oh God, _Tim_. He looked so broken and terrified as they came to. Mal and Conner weren't so good at comforting, but they were able to carry everyone away. Most of them were too shaken to walk properly. Dick stayed, watching the remaining ones. An uncomfortable silence settled. _God, how long would this take? They look so dead. It's not right…_

Suddenly, Barbara jolted violently. "Dick!" she cried out. He was on the opposite side of the room, but he was by her side at an impossibly fast speed. She grabbed onto him, sobbing into his Kevlar-padded shoulder.

"Shh, Babs, it's okay." He realized how much bullshit was coming from his mouth. Babs, who was easily the strongest emotionally of all the prospective Team members, was falling apart within his arms.

"I—I thought…I _saw_ you die. Oh, God, you were just _gone_. I—It was so…"

"Babs, Batgirl, it's okay now. I'm here. Everyone's alive. Everyone's okay."

He tried to ease her to standing up, but her knees gave out. It was all he could do to make sure she didn't crash to the floor. Her body was still racked by sobs. Dick crouched by her sobbing figure, trying to figure out how the _hell_ he was supposed to comfort her. Awkwardly, he enveloped Barbara, who was now curled up in fetal position, in a bear hug. They stayed like that for what felt like forever. Minutes, hours, days…he didn't know.

Black Canary rushed out of the waterfall room. "What's going on?"

"I—I don't know…"

Still in the center of the room lay Lagoon Boy. Without warning, his eyes flew open. He didn't panic like the others had, only sat up slowly, resting most of his weight on his hands. "Wha-what's going on?" he said dizzily.

Canary looked over at him. "You seem awfully okay right now, considering you just died."

"Wait, so it was all a sim? Neptune's beard! I nearly had those aliens!"

The senior members of the Team, Batman, and Black Canary were gathered in the waterfall room. As the cascade crashed behind them, M'gann presented an overview of what happened as Batman read the more detailed report. Around them were holographic profiles of the teens, with Lagoon Boy's blown up and pushed to the center.

"The prospective heroes coped particularly well until Nightwing was taken out of the simulation." _What a way to describe dying. _"Afterwards…well, everyone reacted differently. Lagoon Boy seemed to hold together the best, and most of his…brashness in combat seemed to have diminished when the stakes were raised. Though never really acknowledged, he came across as a good team leader when in a do-or-die situation."

"I second the claim," Black Canary piped in. "When I talked to him, he had coped well. He realized that without any leaders or mentors, the stakes were higher. Nobody would clean up their messes. Everyone else was in too much shock about their mentors' deaths. Even Blue Beetle was shaken at the loss of figureheads. I'm not quite sure what it is about fight-or flight that makes him so capable as a leader, but he falls back to that hothead attitude if he has that safety net." Batman seemed unfazed.

M'gann shifted La'gaan's profile away, dragging in Karen's and Jaime's. "Bumblebee and Blue recovered decently well," M'gann continued. "They came to terms with their roles as the 'new Justice League,' as Bumblebee put it. Blue was able to handle the first few failures, but he was discouraged as they kept finding dead ends. Bee seemed to learn particularly well from the failures they faced. She managed to bring in tactical advice as they fought the invaders more. They work well as a tag team for the purpose of distraction and bait." She resized their portraits and dragged on Cassie's sheet.

"As the first death, Wonder Girl didn't get as much of the experience. She retained her brashness in combat, but she fought hard. Her emotions drive her to push her limits, but they can best her if she doesn't keep them in check." As she pushed hers away, Garfield's profile and Tim's profile floated to the center.

"Beast Boy and Robin, though the youngest, were the most eager. Robin took Nightwing's death pretty badly, but as they faced more battles, he began to cope better. He threw himself into his work, burying himself into the role of Robin and pushing the limits of his body, which nearly got him killed multiple times. Beast Boy also put much work into his position. He felt like he had to prove himself, live up to the standards set by the League and the Team. Well, all of them felt this, but him especially. I might even go so far as to say that they worked _too_ hard. They could have taken better care of themselves: ate more regularly, slept better, and the such."

She pushed their pictures away. "This leaves Batgirl." She stopped for a moment as she dragged on the profile. Dick straightened up, while Batman's jaw seemed to clench. "She…well, she started off fine while Nightwing was guiding the Team. After he died…" Dick's eyebrows rose slightly, and he leaned forward ever so slightly. "She sorta…gave up. She had no real active role in the Team's tactical planning and only executed exactly what she was told to do. She spent most of her time just curled up, crying her eyes out." Dick could tell from M'gann's face that it pained her to talk about her friend this way. "As an asset, she failed under pressure. Her emotions were overwhelming. It was jumbled, but I can tell she's drawn to you, Nightwing." He stiffened.

Canary took the silence as a chance to speak. "She was pretty nonresponsive when I tried to talk to her. When I brought up your death, she sort of…well, she didn't react well. She's too attached, that's for sure."

Batman narrowed his eyes. "I'll have to go over the details on my own before we decide on letting them on the Team permanently." The statement was ambiguous enough, but Dick could tell that the Bat had already made his decisions. The clench of his jaw, the slight tension of the muscles: to others they were minor details, but they spoke volumes to Dick. "Meeting adjourned." M'gann, Black Canary, and Conner left, leaving Batman and his former protégé sitting there.

"Batman—"

"I already know what you're going to say, and I already told you that I have to look over the results."

"Babs is one of our best combat fighters! You can't keep her probationary because of a simulation mission. It wasn't—_isn't_—real!"

Batman stared at him, his face stony. "Dick, the simulation showed that she reacted because of _your _death. She's attached to _you_. If anything happens to _you_, she will falter. Not only does she respect you as Team leader and as my first protégé, she is in _love _with you."

Dick flinched, jumping to deny the statement. "Don't give me your crap; I see the way you two look at each other." He stood up, walking over to Dick. "I've warned you about love and attachment in our line of duty. Your team mates know that best. When Artemis died in your failsafe mission, M'gann hijacked the simulation, and Wally grabbed at any possible leads. You need to be rational about this."

"I am! And I still say that it was still a simulation. The purpose of this was to see how they react to being pushed to their capacity and beyond. Beyond the sim, I've _never_ even come close to experiencing something like this. They probably won't get anywhere near these experiences!

"Not only that, but when I went through Failsafe, I didn't do so well. Heck, you could classify my performance as 'below expectations.' As leader, I got my team _killed_. But I learned from my mistakes. All of us did. Now I'm team leader; have I gotten them killed? Have I lost any members? I know you did."

Behind the opaque lenses, Dick could practically see Batman's eyes narrowing. _I went too far…_

"…Perhaps you're right…" _Wait, what?_ The silence was deafening. "Fine. I'll move them all beyond probationary. But remember, as team leader, it's all on you. Take the information you have and help them become better. Now we know their shortcomings; do something about them." He turned and walked away, effectively ending the conversation.

Watching the retreating figure of his former mentor, Dick stared down at his copy of the report. In his hands was the most drastic extremes of his team. La'gaan's capability in fight-or-flight situations; Jaime and Karen's ability to tag team; Cassie's brashness; Tim and Garfield's earnest to push themselves to the limit; and Barbara's attachment to him. They were all double-edged swords, traits that could be useful if cultivated correctly. He sat back down, kicking up his feet as he opened up the file. He had his work cut out for him.

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Hope you liked it. Even if you didn't, please take the time to review. I am not fragile; if you have a criticism, please leave it. You won't hurt my feelings if you tell me what you think went wrong with this fic. Your constructive criticism will help me improve, and your opinions help me develop. So if you liked one part but not another, please tell me with even a semblance of an explanation. This is the biggest favor you can do to me as a writer.

Note: THIS IS A ONE-SHOT. I have no intention of continuing it. Any possible (but not probable) continuations will get a separate oneshot.


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